Time Challenge Step # 6 – Deadlines

If you’ve been following this Challenge since the beginning, then you will probably have written down all the projects you will be working on for the next couple of months. But when do you plan on completing them?

A mistake we often make is to work but not have a specific time to finish it. We adopt the ‘as long as it takes’ attitude and that’s quite bad for our time management skills.

If you work or study, then you know that there is a deadline for every single thing you do at school or at work. There is a set time for you to submit that paper or finish preparing those reports.

Why do you think that is?

Why do you think teachers and managers give us deadlines to finish our work?

Because we would never get them done otherwise! We would simply leave it for “later” or move on a more pleasant or easier task.

The problem is that many of our projects are personal, which means nobody will ever give us a set time to finish them. And that’s where the 6^th Step of our Challenge comes in. Here’s what you will do:

Look at the list of projects you wrote on Step # 2.

Make a list of everything you will need to do in order to accomplish each one.

Based on this list and all the steps you will need to take in order to achieve what you want in you project, calculate the amount of time you think it’s going to take to finish each one.

And finally, set a date, a deadline for each project. Make sure to write the date in front of the title of each project.

You have to be realistic about the deadline, but it’s also important that you challenge yourself to complete your project soon, because the sooner you get it done, the sooner you will have what you want and the sooner you will be able to move on to other things.

You should also have deadlines for small tasks you do everyday. Have a specific time/day you want to finish each task (including eating your frog), and you will see that you will be more focused and faster than ever!

Now, let’s get to work!